This study was designed to substantiate the positive, long-term outcomes demonstrated by children from economically disadvantaged homes who received a high-quality, early education. Children who attended The Opportunity Project (TOP) Early Learning Centers in a midwestern city in the United States were matched with a like control sample from a local school system and followed from kindergarten through 4th grade. In 3rd and 4th grades, standardized state assessment outcomes for math and reading were collected on the two groups; data also were collected on discipline referrals, attendance rates, and special education placements for all grades. In the 4th grade, the TOP group scored significantly higher on math and reading tests. TOP children had significantly higher attendance rates than the control group; by the 4th grade, TOP students had significantly fewer discipline referrals. TOP students were identified for special education earlier and moved to mainstream classes sooner than the control group. Each year, teachers of TOP graduates completed questionnaires comparing TOP students to the remaining students in their classes on three social variables: appropriate behaviors, social interactions, and emotional maturity. Results indicated TOP children used significantly more appropriate behaviors, were significantly better at social interactions, and were significantly more emotionally mature than their non-TOP peers. (author abstract)

Teens and Toddlers is the only youth development programme in the UK designed to raise the aspirations of young people by pairing them as a mentor and role model to a child in a nursery who is in need of extra support. This transformative work experience, combined with classroom training, teaches young people interpersonal skills and builds their sense of responsibility in order to enable them to make positive decisions about their education, their health and their future. We undertook research in order to investigate the extent to which the programme has an effect on children attending those nurseries in relation to their sociocognitive development. To date, an evaluation of this kind had not been undertaken for the Teens and Toddlers programme. With the attainment gap ever increasing, the research objective was to evaluate the effect of weekly mentoring from "Teens and Toddlers" participants on pre-school children can positively impact on pre-school children's development. Method: The effects of the intervention were measured using the seven areas from the Foundation Stage Early Learning Goals: Personal, Social and emotional development skills; Communication, and language, Literacy, Mathematics, Understanding the world, Expressive art and design and Physical development. Assessments were made by nursery teachers at the beginning and at the end of the programme. Controls (n = 75) were selected and matched with the experimental group (n = 85) on the basis of age, ethnicity, ability and gender. Results: The results show that the experimental group show significantly greater improvement in Communication and language (F(1,162) = 39.3, p < 0.01), Physical development (F(1,162) = 7.0, p < 0.05), Understanding the world (F(1,158) = 5.03, p < 0.05), Expression and design (F(1,158) = 4.8, p < 0.05) compared to the controls. There were no significant differences between the control group and experimental group for Personal, social and emotional development (F(1,162) = 4.8, p = .40), Literacy (F(1,159) = 2.0, p = .153) or Mathematics (F(1,160) = 5.0, p = .43). Conclusion: Findings suggest that the experiences children gain from this intervention can be beneficial in relation to their sociocognitive development. Evidently, interventions like Teens and Toddlers may help in providing the best opportunity for a smooth and successful transition into school and their future. Findings are discussed in relation to potential limitations of the study. (author abstract)

A study of whether a quality preschool child care program was effective in accelerating the development of academic skill in primarily lower socioeconomic, minority population in a public school system over a period of eleven years

Children attending centre-based early childhood care and education programmes across Australia are most likely to be grouped according to age and development. While multi- or mixed-age grouping has been seen to have positive benefits on young children's learning and pro-social behaviours, this approach is not usually adopted in the organisation of children's grouping in most long day care settings across the county. This paper reports on a case study which explored one urban children's setting where the outdoor learning space has been specifically designed to enable a mixed-age approach for children. The findings suggest that while the educators see many benefits across the age groups in engaging in this approach, there is still a preference to segregate the very young children arising from concerns for their safety. The study also found that planning for learning especially in regards pro-social learning with the older children has been problematic. (author abstract)

This webinar discusses family child care providers' opportunities and challenges in serving school-age/mixed age children. It also explores the needs of and provides strategies for States, Territories, and Tribes in supporting providers.

This PowerPoint presentation accompanies a webinar that discusses family child care providers' opportunities and challenges in serving school-age/mixed age children. It also explores the needs of and provides strategies for States, Territories, and Tribes in supporting providers.

A summary of the Training for Wisconsin Model Early Learning Standards program for educators, child care providers and families who want to continue to improve the quality of early education and care for children ages three through the completion of kindergarten

In 2012, the government of South Australia responded to Federal agreements aimed at universal access to preschool education for children in the year before starting formal schooling by introducing a trial designed to 'integrate' preschool children into first year of school programmes in rural and remote areas of the state. This paper reports on the evaluation of this trial, exploring the ways in which integration was interpreted and implemented in eight rural and/or remote sites, the perceived value of collaboration in planning integrated provision and the ways in which two new curriculum documents -- one for the prior-to-school years and the other for compulsory school -- influenced the delivery of integrated preschool-school programmes. Results identify several types of integration, highlight some of the challenges of collaboration in integrating preschool with school and share the caution of educators about the push down of school curriculum into preschool contexts. (author abstract)

This BRIEFing NOTE is about multi-age grouping (also called mixed-age or family groupings) in early childhood programs. It is written to inform the dialogue about a proposal by the Ontario government to introduce regulations for multi-age grouping models in the province. It provides details and context for the proposals, briefly reviews pertinent research literature on multi-age grouping and examines-how multi-age settings are regulated in other jurisdictions. The importance of ratios, group sizes and ECE training in multi-age grouping is explored. This BRIEFing NOTE concerns just one aspect of the package of regulation changes proposed by the Ontario government. For more information on these proposals see CRRU's January 2014 Briefing Note Proposed changes to child care regulations - Ontario 2014 and the Ontario government's backgrounder. (author abstract)

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